The government’s financial burden to look after elderly people and retirees is estimated to balloon to 800 billion annually in the next ten years

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CHIANG RAI – Deputy Finance Minister Wisut Srisuphan said Wednesday that the government had set aside 300 billion baht or 2 percent of GDP to look after the elderly and the retirees.

But the amount is likely to rise up to 800 billion baht per year or 3 percent of GDP in the next 10 years and, therefore, the government will have to be prepared to meet the financial responsibility, he added.

The deputy finance minister was optimistic that the increased financial burden would not affect the country’s financial status and the government would try to manage the expenditure.

To reduce the government’s burden, he said that aging people would be encouraged to buy insurance coverage.

For the time being, the government is taking care of 2.2 million government retirees who account for 60 percent of the expenditure, 20 percent for the elderly and the 20 percent as counter-fund the Social Security Fund, the Pension Fund for 11 million government officials and National Savings Fund which has 350,000 memberships.